Cyclone Biparjoy: Companies' Plants Hit, Operations Halted, Poles Uprooted; The Economic Cost of Cyclones

Cyclone Biparjoy (meaning disaster or calamity in Bengali), which started making landfall near Jakhau Port from 6.30 pm on Thursday and the process continued till 2.30 am, caused incessant rains with wind speeds of up to 140 kmph. The cyclone has caused losses including shattering infrastructure, damaging roads, bridges, electric poles and companies’ plants.

Gravita India has said its Mundra plant has been impacted by the Cyclone Biparjoy. It said some parts of the plant have also been damaged. Though the company has full insurance coverage and the same has been informed to the insurance company, overall damage will be assessed once weather conditions normalise.

Apart from this, the cyclone Biparjoy, which lashed the Kutch-Saurashtra region, has left a trail of destruction as it damaged 5,120 electricity poles and rendered 4,600 villages without power even as the authorities said that no loss of human life has been reported, according to a PTI report.

Though power supply has been restored in 3,580 villages, more than 1,000 are still without electricity. Nearly 600 trees got uprooted and traffic movement on three state highways came to a standstill due to damages and felling of trees. Many houses were damaged due to the cyclone, PTI reported.

“The cyclone caused extensive financial loss to the state power utility – Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited – with 5,120 electricity poles getting damaged. They are being restored. As many as 4,600 villages were rendered without power, but electricity supply has been restored in 3,580 villages,” Gujarat Relief Commissioner Alok Kumar Pandey said.

Now, the Biparjoy cyclone intensity has reduced from ‘very severe’ to ‘severe’ category hours after making landfall. The cyclone has moved north-eastwards and has weakened into a cyclonic storm and will become a depression by the evening over south Rajasthan.

Financial Losses From Past Cyclones

According to a UN report, due to cyclone Amphan, which hit the India-Bangladesh border in 2020, India suffered economic losses of Rs 1.16 lakh crore.

In 2019, cyclone Fani in Odisha caused an estimated economic loss of Rs 9,336.26 crore. In 2021, a ‘very severe’ cyclone Yaas that hit India’s eastern region caused a combined economic loss of about $7 billion-$8 billion in three states — West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.